1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blind-spot detection (BSD) system for vehicle having an obstacle indicator for displaying information relevant to an obstacle existing in a blind spot around a vehicle driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there has been known a vehicle equipped with a BSD system for supporting vehicle safety-driving. For example, US Patent Application No. 2002/281880 discloses a distance measuring and display system designed to indicate a distance between a driver's vehicle or self vehicle and obstacles, and a direction toward the obstacles, on a side view mirror or a rearview mirror.
In the conventional BSD system alarms the obstacle's existence in the blind corner for the driver such as rear side zone in response to operations of a turn-indicator lever or a steering wheel in case the driver intends to change the direction toward which the driver's vehicle closes to the obstacle. By utilizing the BSD system, safe operations are enhanced as collision or contact with an obstacle at a timing of lane changes and right/left turns can be avoided. The BSD system is provided with an obstacle indicator including a display for displaying information relevant to an obstacle, and a failure warning unit for warning of a failure occurring in the obstacle indicator. The display is mounted on a side mirror or door mirror of the vehicle. The failure warning unit is mounted on an instrument panel in front of a driver's seat. This layout makes it difficult for a driver to check simultaneously the display and the failure warning unit. Therefore, in the conventional BSD system, the difficulty for driver is inevitable in reliably make sure whether or not the obstacle indicator is in a failed state when the driver is watching the display on the door mirror. Moreover, it is quite difficult for the driver to perceive the occurrence of a failure in the obstacle indicator, due to the failure warning unit mounted on the instrument panel together with a plurality of warning means for warning of respective failures in various other in-vehicle systems, such as an antilock braking system (ABS) and a traction control (TRC) system.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a blind-spot detection system for vehicle capable of allowing a driver to perceive a failure occurring in an obstacle indicator, readily and reliably.